| “ | There are pilots like you in every generation. And I've felled every last one of them. — Mihaly A. Shilage | ” |
Mihaly A. Shilage, full name Mihaly Dumitru Margareta Corneliu Leopold Blanca Karol Aeon Ignatius Raphael Maria Niketas A. Shilage, was an ace pilot for the Erusean Air and Space Administration flying under the callsign Archange, identified by enemy forces under the nickname Mister X. Born to the royal family of the Grand Duchy of Shilage, Mihaly lost political power after the Erusean nation conquered the Duchy, and he was conscripted into the Erusean Air Force where he quickly established himself as one of their primary aces pilots- earning the title King of the Skies.
In his old age, Mihaly's skill would continue to serve Erusea as he served as the mentor for latter Erusean ace Yellow 13, and during the Lighthouse War, despite his age keeping him from peak performance, Mihaly pushed his body to its limits to allow the Air Force to record his flight skills- serving as the basis for the elite Drone Program.
Games[]
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown[]
With his best years long behind him, Mihaly A. Shilage became desperate to find a way to keep flying- making a deal to work with the Belkan scientist Dr. Schroeder in the development of an elite force of Drone combatants. Schroeder intended to use mass produced, less expensive drones to recover the diminished Erusean military, while working on a set of advanced drones based on experimental flight data recorded by Mihaly. In exchange for the testing to record this data, Mihaly was allowed to retain his position in active service, and was given his own personal squadron, Sol Squadron, one of the few Erusean fighter teams comprised entirely of humans without drone support. However, the testing took a heavy toll on Mihaly- ravaging his body and forcing Schroeder to design a specialized pilot suit to allow Mihaly to keep piloting past his body's natural limits while piloting, and requiring his granddaughters, Ionela A. Shilage and Alma A. Shilage, to aid him outside of the co*ckpit.
Once the drone program had proceeded far enough that the Erusean forces were largely replenished, they launched a simultaneous drone strike on the Osean forces, taking control of the International Space Elevator that represented mankind's planned ascension into space and kickstarting the conflict that would come to be known as The Lighthouse War. While the Oseans made early strides in counter attacking, they were heavily demoralized as their former president Vincent Harling had been touring the orbital elevator, and had been taken as a hostage. Additionally, control of the elevator had likewise granted the EASA control of the Arsenal Bird superweapons- a pair of massive, automated flying aircraft carrier mounted with experimental laser weaponry and a fleet of defensive drone units. Mihaly made his Lighthouse War debut alongside the Arsenal Bird when both were deployed during Operation Dual Wielder- an early op in which the Osean forces planned to secure a route to retake the elevator and rescue their former President by gaining air superiority over the nearby Chopinburg Rainforest.
During the battle, an Osean ace known under the callsign Trigger made short work of the Erusian forces defending their position, prompting the deploy of the Arsenal Bird to shut down the Osean advance. Mihaly, using the Arsenal Bird's launch to disguise his own, joined the fray in his personal Su-30SM. With the overwhelming power of the Arsenal Bird overwhelming the Oseans, and its microwave shielding preventing them from making a meaningful dent in the weapon, the Oseans called for a desperate retreat- calling for Trigger and the rest of his unit, Mage and Golem Squadrons, to cover the rest of the forces retreat. One of Trigger's teammates, callsign Brownie, had been damaged in the fighting and was forced to retreat alongside Gargoyle Squadron. Seeing the weak link, Mihaly followed after them- staying on their tail and slowly lining up a perfect shot, all the while driving Brownie into a nervous breakdown, before opening fire and killing both Brownie and Gargoyle-1. Satisfied with his performance and seeing the Osean forces had largely retreated, Mihaly vanished before Brownie's wingmen could attempt to pursue.
Mihaly crosses paths with Trigger once again during Operation Two Pairs, in the midst of a thunderstorm over the Yinshi Valley. Trigger, now flying with a suicide squad of military prisoners known as Spare Squadron, had been deployed to the valley to rescue two Osean flight squads- Cyclops and Strider, who had gained valuable intel scouting the ruins of the Stonehenge superweapon. While Spare Squadron was successful in escorting their allies out of the airspace, Mihaly and his personal Sol Squadron deployed to counterattack. Despite their orders to retreat, Spare engaged the reinforcements- leading to Champ's death at Mihaly's hands. Mihaly turned his attention to the rest of the Osean forces and wiped another two planes out before he engaged Trigger in a one-on-one dogfight, where he quickly found himself impressed- as the Spare Squadron ace was able to not only keep up with him, but to successfully hit him with multiple missiles, all while flying through the storm clouds and dodging strikes of lightning. Between the damage Trigger was able to deal and the encroaching storm clouds, Mihaly was forced to concede and retreating alongside the rest of Sol Squadron, allowing the Oseans to complete their own retreat.
When the Osean forces began to push into the Erusean capitol of Farbanti, the Osean Long Range Strategic Strike Group attack force spearheaded by Cyclops Squadron and Strider Squadron, now lead by a recently promoted Trigger, began to gain the upper hand against the massive Erusean defense force. Mihaly and Sol Squadron deployed to face off against the Osean squadrons and their two aces- with Mihaly confronting Cyclops team's Wiseman while Trigger faced the rest of Sol Squadron. While Trigger was able to deal with most of Mihaly's flightmen, Mihaly himself lined up his shot and eliminated Wiseman, killing him instantly. Trigger chased after Mihaly and the two fought a second time- and Trigger was once again able to pepper the King of the Skies with multiple missiles in retribution for his ally's death. Mihaly was saved when both sides radar and targeting was temporarily shorted out due to both sides A-SAT strikes, distracting Trigger and throwing his aim off enough to allow Mihaly to punch out. With the communication network wiped out, and Farbanti in the hands of Osean forces, the Eruseans fell apart and began in-fighting between multiple factions vying for power. Seeing the EASA falling apart around them, Mihaly lead Sol Squadron back to his homeland of Shilage; which had used the confusion to reassert its own independence alongside its allied neighbor state, Voslage.
As the war neared its end, Strider Squadron was forced to launch an attack on the Shilage capitol in order to secure fuel and supplies necessary to keep their force moving- with Trigger leading a four man strike force to disable the anti-air defenses and take Shilage Castle, in an operation dubbed Operation Beehive. While Strider was able to disable the defenses with little effort, just before the Castle could be taken, the surviving members of Sol Squadron deployed and challenged Strider. The two units traded blow for blow, until Mihaly opened fire on Trigger with the railgun mounted on his new plane- an experimental prototype based n Belkan technology known as the X-02S Strike Wyvern. Trigger and Mihaly battled one-on-one once again, but this time there could be no retreat for Mihaly- who found himself unable to keep up with the younger Osean ace despite his new plane and advanced weapons, with Trigger finally shooting the elusive Mister X out of the sky. As he fell, Mihaly called out to Trigger over the radio, revealing his role in the production of the drones, warning him that a series of drones based directly on his skills were in production and urging Trigger to shut them down before his radio cut out as he impacted.
While the elite drones based on his flight data, Hugin and Munin, proved formidable, a united coalition of Osean and Erusian forces united to end the threat of the drones launched a counter attack on the Space Elevator- including the surviving members of Mihaly's own Sol Squadron, allowing Trigger to destroy the Arsenal Bird and stop the drones from sending out a signal to mass produce clones of Mihaly- ending the threat once and for all. After the battle, Mihaly was discovered- injured but alive and nursed back to health in Shilage. Between the damage his body took in the drone experiments and the injuries he received in his final duel with Trigger, Mihaly was left bed-ridden and forced to retire from active duty- he would live the rest of his life at peace in his homeland, but unable to ever take to his beloved skies again.
Appearances[]
- Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (2019)
